World Briefs

November 26, 2006

QUITO, ECUADORRunoff offers tycoon against Chavez friend One is a banana billionaire who hobnobs with the Kennedys and Rockefellers. The other calls himself a friend of Venezuela's anti-U.S. president, Hugo Chavez. Today they square off for the presidency of Ecuador, a country whose last three elected leaders were driven from office by street protests. Voters in this runoff election must choose between two populists from the right and left: Alvaro Noboa, whose promises include building homes at a pace of 34 per hour to solve the housing shortage, and Rafael Correa, a leftist economist who has rattled Wall Street by threatening to reduce payments on the country's $16.1 billion foreign debt. A victory for Correa would tip Ecuador into the ranks of Latin American countries that have turned left in recent years. But with polls predicting a dead heat, and Correa claiming fraud even before the votes are cast, the nation of 13.4 million, three-fourths of them poor, could be in for a lengthy postelection stalemate. BEIJINGAIDS group reports activist is missing A Chinese AIDS activist who was organizing a symposium to help people with the disease fight for their legal rights has gone missing after meeting with police, his advocacy group said Saturday. Although Beijing launched a more open and energetic fight against AIDS two years ago, the apparent disappearance of the activist, Wan Yanhai, highlights the government's lingering antipathy toward its more outspoken critics. Four police officers showed up at the Beijing offices of the AIDS advocacy group Aizhi on Friday and questioned Wan for much of the day, the group said on its Web site. With police still present, Wan ordered colleagues to cancel a symposium on AIDS, blood safety and legal rights that had been scheduled for today, the group's statement said. Wan spoke briefly with a colleague Friday evening on his cell phone but has not been heard from since, the statement said. N'DJAMENA, CHADRebels claim capture of major city in area Fighting broke out early Saturday between the national army and rebels in a volatile region of eastern Chad, and rebels claimed they had seized the major city in the area. The fighting near Abeche, 550 miles east of the capital, N'djamena, sent residents fleeing for cover, and humanitarian workers were told to stay in their homes, according to a statement released by the French embassy in the capital. The area was calm by late afternoon, said Chadian Army Maj. Gen. Adoum Gabgalia, but it was not immediately clear who was in control. The rebels announced on the radio that they had seized Abeche, although the government denied that. Communications to Abeche were cut after the fighting began. The fighting has prompted serious concern about an escalating humanitarian crisis in a region that has drawn more than 200,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur.